OVERVIEW:

Nearly half of the nation's undergraduates are enrolled at community colleges. Unfortunately, while the odds are disproportionally long that these students are of underrepresented minority status or of low socioeconomic status, they are disproportionally short that they'll complete the baccalaureate degree. This has national economic ramifications, and it has significant social justice ramifications. Students who begin at four-year institutions are much more likely to complete the baccalaureate than those who start at community colleges, but that initial access is increasingly stratified on racial and socioeconomic lines. This makes the transfer process a critical access point for many students, but rather than being a seamless process of moving to the next institution, transfer as a process is often complicated and unwieldy. Too often, the onus is placed on the student to navigate the process and deflected away from the institutions involved. Consequently, the process deters rather than encourages many students from continuing.

This session will look at some of the more common problems in transfer, macro and micro, from data reporting and institutional priorities and policies, to the language we use in working with students of limited social and cultural capital. For anyone who works with transfer students (and everyone at a higher education institution who works with transfers) it is critical to review how we do what we do, and how that can impact not just transfer student enrollment and success, but social mobility and access.

Who Should Attend?

This webinar is primarily for admissions, enrollment, financial aid officers and individuals that deal with transfer-related issues.

Presenter:

Bart Grachan,
Director, Community College Transfer Opportunity Program, NYU Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Human Development

Bart Grachan, EdD, has been the director of the Community College Transfer Opportunity Program (CCTOP) at NYU Steinhardt for over five years. CCTOP partners with 13 local community colleges to help students understand the transfer process, award scholarships, and provide support to enrolled students after transfer to help ensure both access and successful completion. In the last five years, CCTOP has expanded its scholarship support, its institutional outreach and educational programming for students, its access and offerings with programs in two additional divisions of NYU, and its supports for enrolled students. Dr. Grachan's research, including a study of the CCTOP program, has focused on student access and success, and specifically on the institutional roles in those areas. He will be presenting on these issues and the results of his study at the AACRAO Transfer Conference in Tuscon, AZ, July 14-16, 2013.

Dr. Grachan has been heavily involved in the New York State Transfer and Articulation Association (NYSTAA) for nearly ten years, serving as President, Executive Board Representative, Regional Chair, and currently, as Treasurer, including presenting at AACRAO on NYSTAA's behalf. Prior to working at NYU, Dr. Grachan worked in admissions, primarily with transfer and adult students, for four years at Iona College, as well as coaching football there for nine years, and taught high school social studies for three years before that. He has a BA in History and English from Fordham University, an MST in Teaching Secondary Social Studies and an MA in History from Iona College, and an EdD in Higher Education Administration from the NYU Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Human Development, and his wife and son sincerely hope that the degrees will stop there.

Moderator:

Mark attended Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana, received a B.A. in Mathematics (1979) and Master of Science of Environmental Science (1984) and never left. He joined the Office of the Registrar in 1982 as an Analyst/Programmer, was the Associate Registrar of Systems from 1990-2011, and is now the Associate Vice Provost and Registrar. In addition to his work in the Office of the Registrar, Mark has presented at several conferences, received two EDUCAUSE Best practice Awards (then CAUSE), two CUMREC Best Paper Awards, contributed to books and articles, was a member of the 2002 EDUCAUSE program committee, and a member of the CUMREC Board of Directors.

Additional information:

AACRAO offers professional development opportunities through meetings and online courses. For more information, please visit our Future Meetings page, or find out more about online courses on the Online Courses page.